IEEE Region 5 Robotics Competition

This year’s competition will continue the tradition of using compact, mobile, and autonomous robots operating on a predefined field. The challenge will be to extinguish a fire that has been identified on a distant oil rig. The winner will be determined by the robot that is able to put out the fire the quickest.

Robot Restrictions

The Robot will be screened by a judge before each round of the competition. Entries not meeting the requirements will be disqualified for the round. These requirements take into account the scope and spirit of the competition.

1.Entries must be completely autonomous.

2.The robot is not allowed to communicate with anything outside of the field during the round.

3.The maximum dimensions of the robot are 1’x1’x1’. This only applies during the beginning and end of the round. The robot is allowed to extend beyond these dimensions during the round.

4. Robots must not exceed a generous weight limit of 50 lbs at any time.

5. The robot must be deemed safe in the eyes of the judges. The possibility of harm towards humans and/or property will be the deciding factor. If you have concerns, contact us.

6. An easily accessible, easily identifiable “start/stop” button must be provided for the judges to initiate the round.

Objective

An oil rig, (offshore platform or colloquially oil platform) is a large structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing. In many cases, the platform contains facilities to house the workforce as well. Due to the nature of process and dangers innate by gas/oil product, oil rigs are prone to fire that can lead to a maritime disaster. Robotic rescuers are in need of deployment in such occasions of oil rig fire to extinguish fire as soon as possible. This year’s objective is to create a robot that can not only identify the oil rig on fire, but to also put it out using the correct ‘tool’. On the field, there are three oil rigs, three ‘tools’, and a vast body of water. Because of the logistical issues that involve open flames and large bodies of water, the oil rig on fire will be indicated by a cutout of a flame located behind the oil rig. In this competition, water will be represented as semi-circles cut out of pieces of wood. Also, because the ocean is vast and unpredictable, before the beginning of the round, the waves will be changed such that the path to the oil rigs will change each round.

Our Progress:

Thanks to the hardworking IEEE Robotics team, we now have a robot, named RubIEEE, to enter into the Region 5 Robotics Competition. Our dedicated team has been working diligently and has completed constructing the playing field and testing the robot on it.